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Blizzard DOTA renamed to Blizzard All-Stars, as per new agreement with Valve

"In accordance with the agreement, Valve will continue to use DOTA commercially, including DOTA 2, while Blizzard will preserve noncommercial use of DOTA for its community."

Blizzard was none to pleased when Valve announced Dota 2, a commercial sequel to the popular Warcraft III mod, Defense of the Ancients All-Stars. Blizzard filed an opposition to Valve's "DOTA" trademark, claiming that the DOTA brand is tied to Warcraft and Blizzard. "Valve has no rights in or to the DOTA mark," Blizzard claimed. "Valve has never released, distributed, or sold any products using the mark DOTA, or, for that matter, any of the DOTA Marks. Valve did not coin the DOTA mark and has never participated in the creation of the DotA Mods."

In response, Valve claimed that Blizzard "lacks standing to bring this dispute." And apparently, Valve was right.

The two companies have come to an agreement over the use of the DOTA trademark. "In accordance with the agreement, Valve will continue to use DOTA commercially, including DOTA 2, while Blizzard will preserve noncommercial use of DOTA for its community with regard to player-created maps for Warcraft III and StarCraft II."

Based on this agreement, Blizzard must now rename its own upcoming DOTA game to Blizzard All-Stars. Apparently this title "better reflects the design of our game," according to a statement from Blizzard's Rob Pardo. "Both Blizzard and Valve recognize that, at the end of the day, players just want to be able to play the games they're looking forward to, so we're happy to come to an agreement that helps both of us stay focused on that."

Valve's Gabe Newell also chimed in on the agreement. "We're pleased that we could come to an agreement with Blizzard without drawing things out in a way that would benefit no one." Indeed. Valve benefits by walking away with everything they want.